HP ACC2 Aurora User Manual Download Page 1

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UNIS/UIO CAMERA

ACC2

Aurora camera control

program

USER's MANUAL

Version 2.1

Last updated: 2/7/02

Bjørn Lybekk, Department of Physics, University of Oslo, Norway

Summary of Contents for ACC2 Aurora

Page 1: ...UNIS UIO CAMERA ACC2 Aurora camera control program USER s MANUAL Version 2 1 Last updated 2 7 02 Bjørn Lybekk Department of Physics University of Oslo Norway ...

Page 2: ...en Jan 23 1999 Handwritten notes by Bjørn in the previous manuals Chapter 2 about scaling is added Espen Jan 24 1999 A simple Y2K test was performed The automatic time update was switched off and the computers date and time was set to 1999 12 31 23 50 00 The Acc program was then run for 20 minutes There was no indication that the new century will cause any problem to this computer Document Version...

Page 3: ...TER 6 IMAGE FILE NAMES 14 CHAPTER 7 THE IMAGE FORMAT 16 CHAPTER 8 COPYING IMAGES TO A NETWORK DISK 17 CHAPTER 9 CONFIGURATION FILE 19 CHAPTER 10 SAVING DATA AT DAT STORAGE MEDIA 22 CHAPTER 11 SAVING DATA AT PINNACLE APEX 2 X 2GB OPTICAL DISK 23 CHAPTER 12 USING THE HP SURE STORE T4i STREAMER 24 CHAPTER 13 AUTOMATIC UPDATE OF PC CLOCK 26 CHAPTER 14 CAMERA SETUP 28 CHAPTER 15 FOCUSING 30 CHAPTER 16 ...

Page 4: ...is automatically updated every 5 minutes by the Norwegian Polar Research Institutes Network Time Server The Tardis95 program must be running in the background The program starts automatically when Windows starts and a icon is shown on the toolbar The ACC2 program has also support for a GPS clock If the Garmin GPS 12XL Receiver is used the date and time is received from this device If not the date ...

Page 5: ... replies with HOME 1 the communication with the camera is working Close the communication with User COMCLOSE Close the two windows SI 512 camera and the one with 8x16 icon buttons In the PMIS Window Image NewImage A new black image window appears Press the ACC2 icon Now the ACC2 window appears The UT time is shown in upper right corner of the ACC2 window It should show UT and have the format yyyy ...

Page 6: ...tings This settings do not affect the data saved to disk The datarange is 12 bit The operator can move the cursor around in the image In the lower left corner of the Image_1 window is displayed X Y I I is the data value 0 4095 The name of the data files are diplayed in the Aurora Camera Control window e g 06 50 50 File name C data images 981215 06 98121506 33G The extention 33 is a hex number star...

Page 7: ... the power at the backside of the camera unit and the camera control unit Put the lens cover on the camera unit Shut off the Garmin GPS 12XL receiver by pressing the red button for about 3 seconds If wanted the Garmin GPS 12XL receiver can run all the time during the observation season If necessary do the move the recorded image files to tape or optical diskette see below Shut down Windows 95 and ...

Page 8: ...l By the time a Network Time Server is used instead of the GPS The Time Server communicates via the LAN ACC 2 Visual Basic 5 PMIS ver 3 5 SMARTMR DDE Dynamic Data Exchange RS 232 COM1 RS 232 COM2 Photmetrics CH200 CCD camera Smartmtr electronics RUN file SEQUENCE file TIMER file I O from AT200 PC board Garmin GPS receiver ...

Page 9: ...TR Norway prg The information from the ACC2 program is written in the upper text panel in the ACC2 window Every line starts with the time when the message is written The last line written in the ACC2 text panel is the top line The highly unstable PC clock is corrected by the Garmin GPS 12XL receiver This is done via a RS 232 cable on the COM2 port The messages from the part of the program handling...

Page 10: ...full path of the timer file the camera should run Example RUN c acc seq timer_2 fil 2 The TIMER file The current timer file is the filename after the RUN in run file In the Example above the current timer file is named timer_2 fil in c acc seq directory It is recommended the operator uses DOS compatible file names when he creates new timer files The timer file defines the intervals when the camera...

Page 11: ...Regional Settings in the Windows 95 Control Panel yyyy mm dd hh mm ss Example 1997 11 15 10 17 24 CORRECT DATE AND TIME If the Garmin GPS 12XL receiver is not used the date and time of the computer should be set to correct UT time This is done in the Windows 95 control panel Date Time 3 The sequence file The current sequence file is the filename at the end of the line executed in the current timer...

Page 12: ...to hard disk 1 yes 0 no u is save image to external disk 1 yes 0 no c is read the run file and the timer file or the Garmin GPS 12XL receiver after the image is captured 1 yes 0 no Example sequence file x1 seq The camaera run either in normal or burst mode t is normal mode is seconds in the minute b is burst mode is second in the minute f is filter number 1 630 0nm 2 557 7 nm 3 427 8 nm g is inten...

Page 13: ...filter no 3 427 8 nm Note Because when saving to network disk the ACC2 program copies the image file from harddisk to network disk the line s0 u1 in the sequence file will not work The ACC2 program store the sequence selections in an array with one element for each second The consequence of this is The burst mode settings will overwrite the normal mode settings for the seconds As an example you ha...

Page 14: ...tory at x data images for each day The format of this directory name is yymmdd Then on this new directory it creates a new subdirectory for each hour The format of this directory name is hh An example of this directory structure is X data images 971123 05 06 21 971124 05 06 07 08 The ACC2 program can also create long file names yymmddhhmmss fs However the PMIS program which is responsible for acqu...

Page 15: ...f more than 512 images are stored for filter no 1 in this hour the code switches to t etc As an example the images stored at data images 971124 14 directory is 97112414 00R 97112414 00G 97112414 01R 97112414 01G 97112414 02R 97112414 02G 97112414 03R 97112414 03G 97112414 04R Windows explorer can be used to show the on line occurrence of new data files at current directory When the ACC2 program is...

Page 16: ... bit data An example of the start of such a comment is D1997 12 07_14 51 29W557 7nmF2G0E230 Upper case letters A Z are used as identifiers D denotes date example D1997 11 24_17 11 30 W denotes Wavelength W557 7nm F denotes filter number F2 G denotes intensifier gain G0 E denotes exposure time ms E230 The rest of the comment parameters are read directly from the configuration file c acc config conf...

Page 17: ...n the images should be stored at a network disk In the ACC_NET_IMAGE_DIR directory the sub directories 427 8nm 557 7nm and 630 0nm must exit The ACC2 program will not create any directories at the network disk The ACC2 program will then save the images from the respective filters on these sub directories On the network disk the image names are pmis 0 pmis 1 pmis 2 pmis 3 pmis 4 pmis 5 pmis 6 pmis ...

Page 18: ...18 The ACC2 program copies the image from the harddisk to the network disk In this case the s0 u1 line in the sequence file will not work ...

Page 19: ...at c acc config directory This file is read when the ACC2 program is starting This file contains the ACC2 configurations Lines starting with are omitted i e these lines are comment lines THIS IS FOR THE CAMERA OPERATION This information is for the CameraConfigStruct Location of RUN ACC file ACC_RUNDIR The RUN ACC file determines if the camera is run or not ACC_RUNDIR c acc seq Location of the sequ...

Page 20: ...ies 427 8nm 557 7nm and 630 0nm must exist When the ACC_NET_IMAGE_DUMMY is 1 the dummy file dummy dat is copied to the network image directory after the image is copied to this location ACC_NET_IMAGE_ALLOW 1 ACC_NET_IMAGE_DIR g tmp pmis images ACC_NET_IMAGE_DIR c tmp images ACC_NET_IMAGE_DUMMY 0 ACC_NET_INFO_ALLOW Location of the INFO ACC file The INFO ACC file contains the same information as the...

Page 21: ... has to be 3 characters The station letter is one letter which will be added at the end of the file names when long file names are used STATION_NAME nya STATION_LETTER N station geographic latitude geographic longitude and altitude in meters above sea level STATION_LAT 78 92 STATION_LON 11 95 STATION_ALT 25 00 This information is for the CameraSetupStruct rows and columns in image IMAGE_MAX_ROWS 5...

Page 22: ...yearbyen When saving data at the DAT tape the Adaptec Backup abackup program is used Using the abackup program 1 Backup Data_disk_d D 2 mark D data a v tag appears Use right mouse button and Tag 3 NextStep 4 Mark the device HP 35480A 5 StartBackup This backup last for approximate 1 hour GB ...

Page 23: ... in approximate 5 minutes The formatting is explained in the EZ SCSI 4 0L Software User Manual page 43 51 FORMATTING Put the new diskette in the CD ROM First with A towards right Go to Ms DOS and type afdisk 1 Press enter when 2 HA 1 Target 2 Pinnacle Apex 4 6 GB is printed 3 Use Extended Bios Translation Yes 4 Standard Hard Disk Format 5 The start and end cylinders should be as recommended 0 and ...

Page 24: ...hion as in the Microsoft Windows Explorer Press on each directory to be backed up The selected directories will then be marked with the ν sign The ACC2 program stores images at data images directory Then in our case the data directory needs to be backed up Mark This can be changed in the configuration file ACC_STORAGE_MEDIA_DIR When the user has selected the directories for backup press the Next b...

Page 25: ...25 been exposed to low temperature let it warm up slowly for several hours before using it ...

Page 26: ... currently 193 156 10 100 as shown in the figure The program communicates via the computers network connection THE GARMIN GPS 12XL RECEIVER OPTIONAL The setup of the Garmin GPS 12XL receiver is shown in Figure 2 The Garmin GPS 12XL receiver must be mounted with open view to at least of the sky Then it will see several of the GPS satellites in polar orbit The mounting bracket can be unscrewed and r...

Page 27: ...The mscommtry c acc testprog mscommtry exe can be used to test the GPS connection This is started with the TestGPS icon When this program is used simultaneously as the ACC2 program a conflict on using the COM2 port will appear brown white black fuse GPS data connector 2 3 5 12V RS 232 on PC AC DC adapter connector gnd is center pin ...

Page 28: ...the 97 98 winter season RS 232 to COM2 Focusing tube 180 fish eye lens Front lens and f4 Front safety shutter Filter wheel Middle lens f 0 95 and 19 m at blacks Image intensifier Focusing tube Bottom lens f1 2 and 7m at black Data cable Data cable Smartmtr ctrl RS 232 to COM1 110 VAC 220 VAC Garmin GPS 12XL Data cable Connector box PhotometricsCC D camera Photometrics CC200 Camera Controller Unit ...

Page 29: ...t shutter cable to the front shutter see Fig 2 The other cable is connected to a safety light detector and should be mounted at a proper place Connect the 1 5m data cable from the Photometrics CC200 Camera Controller Unit to the Photometrics CCD camera This has to be done in this sequence 1 Connect the cable to the Photometrics CC200 camera Controller Unit It is marked which side of the cable you ...

Page 30: ...m lens This is the intensifier re imaging optics This is the NIKON camera lens in front of the CC200 camera head As with the other lenses it should be set fully open f stop f1 2 The focus of this lens has to be adjusted Only the PMIS program is used when focusing the camera The user knows from the experience with the sequence files the best settings for the image intensifier gain and exposure time...

Page 31: ...t to see the instantaneously effect of focusing each lens Perhaps it is easiest to start with the bottom lens and then afterwards the adjust the middle lens The continuously exposure is stopped with the ESC button or the right mouse button Then remember to shut down the camera again with user shutterctrl 0 user initgain 0 user initpower 0 user comclose ...

Page 32: ...ng the timer file or the sequence file the ACC2 program should be restarted 5 If the Garmin GPS 12XL receiver is running on battery power or lost track of all GPS satellites for a period of 10 minutes it shuts itself off It has to be restarted manually The first data after a manual start is not the time sequence and is ignored by the ACC2 program 6 If you in the sequence file have selected differe...

Page 33: ...AT200 CCD Camera System Hardware reference manual and the appropriate World Wide Web pages from Photometrics and GKR Computer Consulting 9 If the HP SureStore tape bacup drive is not responding and gives the following error message 1 Shutdown and restart computer 2 Run ScanDisk and Defrag 3 Close other applications 4 Try a different tape 5 Uninstall Colorado Backup and reinstall then the most like...

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